Butler University student organizations are for the students by the students, and the process to receive funding is no different.

Any recognized student organization does not necessarily receive funding from the university, Caroline Huck-Watson, PuLSE Office director, said. It is the student organization’s responsibility to look for sources for funding.

One way student organizations can get funding is by applying for Student Government Association grants.

The SGA Finance Board and Grants Committee started looking at grant applications last week, said Derek Friederich, SGA vice president of finance. Four grants have been approved so far.

Student organizations can apply for four types of grants: general-purpose grants, event grants, R.E.A.C.H. grants and club sports grants.

“A lot of organizations really do rely on those (grants),” SGA President Mike Keller said. “The money they have at the start of the year is really not enough to do some of the things that they want to.”

Applying for grants is a multi-step process, Friederich said.

First, a student organization interested in a grant will fill out the online application and budget form on SGA’s website.

That application will be submitted to the Grants Committee and a member will add that application to a pile of applications to be considered.

The Grants Committee and Finance Board hear four grant request presentations per week, Friederich said. The organization will give a brief presentation about why they want the grant. The committee will then ask the organization questions to find out if the money will be put to good use.

“It is the students’ money,” Friederich said. “We check to make sure efforts are being made toward bettering the campus in some way.”

The 11 individuals on Grants Committee are the only people who vote on the grant applications. If a grant is awarded to an organization, the money will be in that organization’s account at the PuLSE Office the next day.

The PuLSE Office oversees the accounts of all registered student organizations. The financial transactions of an organization happen there, with the exception of club sports, which are handled through the health and recreation department.

Huck-Watson said, along with SGA grants, student organizations could get funding from their own fundraising efforts or also from grants outside the university.

A representative from a student organization can come in for a cash advance, which is money taken out ahead of time for an activity or supplies a group needs if it have the money in its account.

The representative from the organization must fill out a form with information about who they are and the amount of money they want. That form is then taken to Student Accounts, as the actual money is not kept in the PuLSE Office, Huck-Watson said.

After the money is spent, the representative must go back to the PuLSE Office with the receipts from transactions and any change  left over.

The PuLSE Office can also be used to pay organization’s invoices or reimburse students in an organization who have used their own money for something, Huck-Watson said.

On the 15th of every month, the university puts out cumulative financial reports so students can see how much they’ve been spending throughout the year, Huck-Watson said. But students are expected to keep a real-time budget to keep track of their spending.

Huck-Watson said the PuLSE office holds meetings at the beginning of each year required for all student organizations to inform them of the different policies and financial responsibilities they have as a student organization.

The PuLSE Office will work with organizations if funding issues arise, Huck-Watson said. It is handled on a case-by-case basis to figure out how the issues happened and how it can be fixed.

SGA also requires student organizations to be accountable for their grants, Friederich said.

Organizations who receive event grants must submit an accountability report to the Grants Committee showing the receipts so the committee can match it up with the budget to make sure the money was used how the organization said it was going to be used, Friederich said.

General purpose grants are subject to random audits throughout the year, Friederich said.

The entire SGA budget comes from the activity fee students are required to pay, Keller said.

Student government receives about $180 of the $288 student activity fee. The rest of the money goes to each individual class, athletics and into a pool to be divvied up between the different organizations, Keller said.

Keller said he thinks the activity fee is set at the correct amount.

“Our only mission is to be an advocate and provide programming for the students,” Keller said. “It’s a really solid investment, especially if you’re someone who takes advantage of all that SGA offers.”

Huck-Watson said she thinks the fee is doing its job.

“From my perspective, I don’t think the fee needs to be raised,” she said. “At this point, the fee is meeting the needs of the students.”

The total SGA budget is $748,409 for this year, Friederich said. There is $55,500 in the grants budget.

The grants are awarded first come, first served, so organizations should apply early, Friederich said.

A prospective student organization was denied endorsement by the Student Government Association last Wednesday, and is up for appeal today.

The National Society for Leadership and Success was presented before SGA executives and was denied endorsement.

SGA Assembly will now listen to the NSLS’s presentation, and will vote to pass it or not.

If the NSLS is approved in the SGA assembly, Irene Stevens, dean of student life, and PuLSE Office Director Caroline Huck-Watson will then review it.

Brian Hannon, the president of the NSLS if it is approved, understands SGA’s initial hesitation but says the organization will help Butler students.

“I think the group was initially rejected by the SGA board because they were worried the fees required to start the organization are too much and too corporate-based,” Hannon said in an email “It is their responsibility to protect the student body from getting scammed, so I understand their viewpoint.”

“The networking possibilities, nationally-recognized speakers and community service events all would be a huge benefit to this campus,” Hannon said.

SGA President Mike Keller said that when the NSLS presented, there were specific parts of the group’s constitution that caused concern.

The financial aspect of the constitution stated that an $85 admission fee to the group was required for each new student.

Of that $85, only $5 went back to Butler University, and $80 went to the national headquarters of the group.

Keller also said that a 3.0 GPA was required to be eligible for the group, which he said did not seem high enough to be considered an honors group, especially here at Butler.

“We really didn’t feel comfortable saying this was a good organization for the students because it would take away money from other groups that are more beneficial,” Keller said.

Marielle Slagel, SGA vice president of operations, said the whole presentation made the SGA executives question if this group could really benefit Butler.

“We are looking out for students and the campus community and are skeptical of the membership fee as well as the benefits that students would receive from the National Society of Leadership and Success,” Slagel said.

Even though Stevens has not seen the group this year, she said that the same group attempted to start a chapter here at Butler in the past.

Two years ago the NSLS made a presentation to Huck-Watson, and she raised her initial concerns to Stevens.

Huck-Watson researched the group online and told Stevens that it is a “for-profit” group, in which the NSLS had to raise thousands of dollars a year just to support its own programs.

The online website for the NSLS boasts 221,000 members yet its membership benefits said there is $100,000 available in scholarships. So if each member were to receive benefits. each individual would only receive $0.45.

“There are better ways to go for a leadership group than to pay a lot of money to a for-profit organization, in my opinion,” Stevens said.

The NSLS will present to SGA Assembly this afternoon.

With more than 140 student organizations on campus to choose from, Butler University students may find a club they are involved in declared inactive at some point during their Butler careers.

Julie Pakenham, associate director of the PuLSE Office, said the most common reason that clubs are declared inactive by the PuLSE Office is because of the group’s failure to fill out the paperwork.

“It’s really not very difficult to become recognized (by PuLSE as a club),” Pakenham said. “It’s a matter of students taking responsibility, which they should do if they care about their club anyway.”

Pakenham said that to be recognized as a student organization at Butler, a group of four members must present a constitution, obtain a faculty adviser and fill out the necessary paperwork with the PuLSE Office.

Pakenham said she recognized that having key members of a club study abroad and graduate are contributing factors to a club going inactive.

Adam Davis, vice president of the Lilly Scholars Network at Butler, said they became inactive for the fall 2011 semester because their leaders graduated and did not hold elections for the future.

“Last semester, none of us had any warning,” Davis said. “We just didn’t get emails, monthly emails, that were telling us what service events were coming up and that sort of thing.”

Davis said he contacted his organization’s alumni coordinator and learned of the group’s inactive status. He then banded together with a group of fellow scholars, formed a leadership team and found a faculty adviser.

Davis said the group then had to fulfill the requirements dictated by the PuLSE Office to become active.

Pakenham said that PuLSE recognizes Davis’ problem of not being aware of his group’s inactivity but has yet to find a solution.

“Our requirements from the PuLSE Office (to maintain an active status) are pretty minimal,” Pakenham said. “It shouldn’t be unreasonable to expect graduating officers to pass the necessary information along.”

Pakenham said she contacts the four people listed, but does not go beyond those names that a club provides her as part of the recognition process.

Kelsa Reynolds, vice president of operations, said when a club fails to go to a Student Government Association assembly meeting three times, they are declared inactive by SGA.

Mike Keller, SGA grants committee chairman, said that to be declared inactive by SGA is to be declared ineligible for grants from SGA. Keller said even if a club is declared active by the PuLSE Office, they may still be regarded as ineligible by SGA.

“Ninety-nine percent of the time, they’re gonna get the grant, unless there is something that is making them ineligible,” Keller said.

Reynolds said the status of ineligibility lasts for the remainder of the semester and automatically changes to the active and eligible status at the beginning of the next semester unless the PuLSE Office intervenes.

If club sports do not spend all of their grant money this year, they could find less funding headed their way next year.

Butler University’s club sports teams have used $4,000 of the $10,000 that the Student Government Association grants committee gave to them this year, said Dan Schramm, SGA’s vice president of finance. Schramm said club sports grants can supplement a team’s regular budget and are useful if the team has to travel.

Schramm said club sports teams should apply for grants soon if they need funding because the grants committee could repurpose some of the money next year if it isn’t used.

“If that’s money they can use and will use, then it should be allocated to them,” Schramm said. “If not, maybe they don’t need it.”

Robert Beckett, treasurer of the Club Sports Council and men’s volleyball team, said this creates a problem because it causes clubs to spend more money than they must. Beckett said that’s something the executive council of the men’s volleyball team has been discussing.

“We don’t want to just go throwing money around for nothing,” Beckett said. “What we’re realizing is if we don’t spend this money, one, our budget’s going to get reduced, and two, we’re not going to live up to our club’s full potential.”

Faith Lindsay, allocation coordinator for the Club Sports Council, said she sees harm in the reduction of club sports grants.

“It would be a problem,” Lindsay said. “I don’t want them (students involved in club sports) to feel like they can’t go to a regional or national championship.”

Lindsay said reduced grant money could put limitations on teams’ accomplishments.

“It’s hard to know if you’re going to make it,” Lindsay said. “Some years are rebuilding years for teams, and other years you just don’t know.”

One club in a rebuilding year is Butler’s Shotokan Karate Club. The Butler University dojo was formed in 2001 but is currently  inactive.

Karate Club president Avery Stearman said the recent loss of two key members has jeopardized the vitality of the club.

While the club could continue to exist in a partnership with an outside group from the Indianapolis area, Stearman said she wanted more Butler students to take ownership of the group.

“Getting the word out is difficult and has been a struggle since I’ve started,” Stearman said. “Typically students interested in karate come find us, not the other way around.”

Stearman said that karate club is not the only club whose advertising has failed to garner student body interest.  Stearman said she thought that several other teams appeared inactive.

“There are too many clubs for the amount of students we have,” Stearman said.

Eric Kammeyer, Butler’s assistant director of recreation, said getting the word out is “the biggest missing piece” within club sports.
Kammeyer said the appearance of certain clubs as inactive is a result of confusion caused by SGA.

“That’s something that needs to be cleared up with SGA,” Kammeyer said. “The PuLSE Office decides who is inactive for club sports. SGA has its own use of inactive status.”

Kammeyer said a club sports representative to SGA who misses three meetings is declared inactive by SGA and cannot apply for a grant.

Kammeyer said the PuLSE Office’s definition of inactive is much more severe and means that operations are suspended until the requirements dictated by the office are met.

Hockey is the only club sport to currently have inactive status from the PuLSE Office.

Kammeyer said the Club Sports Council has done a good job of recognizing which clubs deserve the grants. Kammeyer said that despite the efficiency of the Club Sports Council, the entire budget cannot be covered with grant money.

“We can’t function on the money we receive from SGA alone,” Kammeyer said. “Men’s lacrosse, for example, brings in thousands in donations and competes on the field at a national level.”

Joshua Phelps, vice president of the men’s lacrosse team, said the fact that men’s lacrosse costs more than most other club sports forces them to rely on players, fundraisers and donations for financial support. Phelps said parents primarily provide donations because alumni will not.

“The alumni situation’s unique with lacrosse,” Phelps said. “A lot of people who played lacrosse at Butler don’t have the best relationship since they cut the program, because it was a D-1 program and then they dropped it.”

Maddi Corry, secretary of the Club Sports Council and a member of the women’s lacrosse team, said her team relies on donations too, but could not compete at a high level without SGA grants.

“I feel like it would be a problem for all of the teams, but we actually do apply for them, and we actually need the money,” Corry said.

Beckett said actually applying for a grant has been a rarity for most clubs  recently because people do not want to have to fill out the paperwork. Beckett said he will be presenting a new method for the submission of grants using Google Docs at the first Club Sports Council meeting of the semester on Thursday.

Beckett also said he has plans to discuss his goal of improving the Club Sports Council’s website and posting a copy of the finalized club sports handbook online by the end of the semester.

Vice President for Student Affairs Levester Johnson addressed the difference in involvement between Greek and non-Greek students at the most recent town hall, and it has caused a buzz among students.

The university has conducted no formal studies, but  it seems as though it is widely-held idea that Greek students are more involved with leadership positions.

Johnson said this is due to the structure and stated goals of Greek organizations.

“Greek organizations have very intentional and direct programs; their missions and goals are founded in giving back to the community,” Johnson said. “It is easier for a Greek house to organize 60 members than non-Greek students to organize thousands.”
Irene Stevens, dean of student life, said this imbalance has a negative effect on student life.

“You always want your student life to reflect your student body,” Stevens said. “Independent students have different views and perspectives and should be represented.”

The Independent Council was founded in 2008 by student Sarah Morefield to help bridge the gap between non-Greek and Greek students, particularly in terms of all-campus events, according to the Independent Council’s website.

The organization began with 15 interested members and has grown to 94 members today, according to the website.

Senior Amie Wright, president of the Independent Council, said the reason for the lack of independent voices among leadership positions is because leadership positions are often passed down.

“Those who hold certain positions are more likely to pass them down to people within their own house,” Wright said.

Wright said there must be a continued dialogue between the administration and Independent Council to ensure the independent voice is heard.

“It’s a matter of the information getting out to independent students who don’t have the same level of organization Greek students have,” Wright said.

The Independent Council hosts and collaborates with organizations for many senior events through the year, according to Hannah Wysong, an executive board member.

“We get members involved through events like the Spring Sports Spectacular, which is our biggest event,” Wysong said.

Wysong said a stated goal of Independent Council is not necessarily to increase independent student leadership but to increase involvement.

“The reason for such a high percentage of Greek involvement is networking,” Wysong said. “The IC hopes to provide this sort of networking to an extent but most importantly help independents become more involved.”

Wright said the PuLSE Office is important in passing along leadership information.

“PuLSE can send IC leaders information on leadership positions, which can then be passed along to other members,” Wright said.

PuLSE Office Director Caroline Huck-Watson said she hopes to continue the dialogue with independent students to help increase their involvement.

“Campus is more vibrant and powerful when as many voices are heard,” Huck-Watson said. “Every voice is important.”
Johnson said this situation should be viewed in context.

“Although there is a difference between Greek and non-Greek involvement, Butler students as a whole are more involved than the national average,” Johnson said.

The National Survey of Student Engagement found Butler to be higher in many areas of student involvement, including service projects and volunteer work — something Greek organizations particularly excel in.

“Students don’t need organizations around them to be more involved,” Johnson said. “Oftentimes the division between Greek and non-Greek students is due to competitive events that are based on places of residence.”

Johnson said in the future the administration might try to create smaller residential communities and be more intentional in leadership training programs.

Wright also said it is important to get independent freshmen and sophomores involved so that they may pursue leadership positions in the future.

“We need to continue to try and get independent students involved,” Wright said. “The 65 percent of independent students is definitely not represented.”

Last Tuesday the Homecoming theme for 2011 was announced, teams were paired, and celebrations were had. However, only one component is still missing: an Independent Council team.

We at The Butler Collegian think the exclusion of an IC team from Homecoming is unfair.

Butler University administrators need to give independents more ownership of Homecoming and other campus events throughout the year.

The PuLSE Office denied IC’s request to be considered a group to participate in Homecoming. Instead, independents will be grouped by their residence halls to participate in Homecoming events.

Although IC and other independent students are technically still ‘invited’ to attend Homecoming as part of their residence halls, they feel less welcome because they don’t have anything else to identify with but the buildings they live in.

Butler claims that all students are welcome to participate in Homecoming activities and constantly reassures students that Greek students do not dominate the campus. However, this is just  another instance of the administration’s hypocrisy on the issue of Greeks versus independents.

While Greek houses have the opportunity to collaborate with other fraternities and sororities about making floats and lawn decorations for Homecoming, independents are lumped in with their residence halls.

If IC was allotted its own group for Homecoming, it is likely that more students would participate since they all identify under one title rather than members of various residence halls on campus.

However, during Spring Sports Spectacular, IC was given their own team. We thought that would set a precedent for them to have their own team for Homecoming as well.

Unfortunately, the PuLSE Office didn’t agree with IC’s proposal, even after they petitioned rigorously to be made into their own team for Homecoming.

Butler is not a large school, so there is not much room for exclusion of students who are not members of Greek houses.  If Butler wants to maintain the close relationship that is cultivated on this campus, then administrative officials need to incorporate independent students as well as Greek students into massive campus-wide events, such as Homecoming.

How does Butler expect to keep a tight community when Greek students dominate the campus?

The answer is not to push independent students away from on-campus events.

“I’m exasperated,” Hannah Wysong, an IC executive board member said. “Essentially, this decision directly affects independents, but we have no control over it in the end.”

This lack of an IC team this year is essentially encouraging non-Greek students to simply stay home.
It is imperative for the university to make all students feel comfortable and welcome at on-campus events and to avoid Greek favoritism.

Administrative officials and members of the PuLSE Office should have weighed the pros and cons of this issue more before deciding to continue to place independent students with their respective residence halls.

Hopefully this year’s Homecoming will make it obvious to all involved that independents are a necessary part of the student body, and more of a fight should be put up for their expanded participatory rights in school events.

Showers put a damper on Butler University’s annual Block Party, forcing coordinators to call off the event shortly after it began yesterday afternoon.

The event has been rescheduled for Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. on the South Mall, according to Jen Agnew, assistant director of the PuLSE Office.

Block Party gives new students an outlet to meet new people while exploring various ways to get involved on campus.

Butler’s 150 student organizations depend heavily on the event in order to garner interest and boost membership, especially among freshmen.

Junior Ariel Rudd, a Students Government Association Operations Board member, said the SGA tent saw significant traffic despite the rain.

“In the 30 minutes we were set up, we filled three or four sign-up pages for the Freshman Caucus,” Rudd said.

Sophomore exploratory major Tyler Laughlin is getting settled after transferring to Butler and was disappointed to hear that Block Party had been canceled.

“I had heard a lot of good things about the event and was really excited,” Laughlin said.

Although it rained on the initial parade, Laughlin and other first year students will have another chance to enjoy Block Party this Friday.